NUCLEAR BLAST is proud to announce that the
new SUFFOCATION album “Pinnacle of Bedlam” entered the official German
charts at the position number #58. It is the best chart result ever for
SUFFOCATION in Germany. Congratulation Boys!!!

SUFFOCATION
states:“We are so proud of PINNACLE OF BEDLAM, this album really came
together and it shows. The fans out there support us, they buy our stuff and
we're happy tohave them as our FANS! We'll be bringing
the Pinnacle of Bedlam to Europe soon! Keep an eye out for tour announcements,
can't wait to come there and BRUTALIZEour EUROPEAN FANS IN MAY 2013!! Thank
you to Nuclear Blast for helping bring PINNACLE OF BEDLAM to the masses, and to
our management team for keeping us all in check.

French grindcore activists BLOCKHEADS have announced a
series of European shows and festival appearances in support of their latest
full-length, This World Is Dead. The shows kick off in their native Nancy,
France on March 2nd with label-mates MUMAKIL and AFGRUND and include dates with
NAPALM DEATH, GENERAL SURGERY and many more. A complete listing of dates is
available below.

This World Is Dead saw its release on CD/LP/Digital
this January and features 25 songs clocking in at over 40 minutes of brutally
efficient, grade-A, frenzied grind. The album is streaming in its entirety at
this location while a previously released lyric video for the track
"Pro-Lifers" can be viewed here.

Formed 20 years ago, BLOCKHEADS (Xav - vocals, Fred -
guitar/vocals, Nico -drums/vocals & Eric - bass/vocals) have unleashed four
full-lengths in addition to numerous splits, comps and DVDs. The band has toured
throughout Europe with such genre heavyweights as Napalm Death, Nasum, Carcass
and Brutal Truth.

A two-part concept album inspired by the band’s love for prog-rock
progenitors Genesis, Yes & King Crimson, this is sure to be the group’s most
ambitious recordings to date. A summer 2013 release via Relapse is expected with
more details to be announced shortly.

In addition, Locrian has announced their first live rituals in almost
two years. The trio will be performing at 35 Denton Fest on March 10th in
Denton, TX alongside Prurient, Sleep, Eyehategod and many more notable acts,
followed by a pair of special shows in Kansas City, MO and their hometown of
Chicago.

Locrian, located in Chicago, IL and Baltimore, MD, has released over
20 recordings on an eclectic array of labels in their relatively short but
prolific career, including a recent reissue of The Clearing / The Final Epoch
and New Dominions, a split with label-mates Horseback. The Clearing / The Final
Epoch can be found streaming at
this location while New Dominions is available for streaming here.

Dunderbeist’s new music video “Father Serpent”
premieres today at Metal-Hammer.de! WATCH
IT HERE!

Dunderbeist is now
confirmed to perform at Wacken Open Air this year on the 3rd of
August! The band will also be touring Norway in March and April, and head out
for a European Tour with Der W right after. Check out the tour dates
below.

"Interlude" is described in in a
press release as "a fantastic blend of brand-new songs, special versions and
mixes of popular DELAIN tracks, covers, and the beautiful single 'Are You
Done With Me'. Thanks to the new mix, the well-known anthem shines with a
new-found splendor. The album includes a special DVD featuring exclusive
live footage and clips from the band's career. 'Interlude' is not only a
must for loyal DELAIN fans, but also for those who have not experienced the
music by DELAIN so far. It is the perfect introduction to the world of
DELAIN and the starting point to an emotional and bombastic
journey!"

CD track listing: 01. Breathe On Me02. Collars And
Suits03. Are You Done With Me (new single mix)04. Such A Shame05.
Cordell06. Smalltown Boy07. We Are The Others (new ballad
version)08. Mother Machine (live)09. Get The Devil Out Of Me
(live)10. Milk And Honey (live)11. Invidia (live)12. Electricity
(live)13. Not Enough (live)

We're thrilled to announce the
signing of Germany's death metal warmachine DEBAUCHERY!

In
post-apocalyptic times the Blood God starts the Death Metal Warmachine again. 10
years of constant warfare have made DEBAUCHERY even more brutal and sinister.
Battlefields all over the world, from Russia to China, all across Europe were
left victorious. Most of the well-known festivals - Wacken, Summer Breeze, With
Full Force - were destroyed. On the campaigns DEBAUCHERY followed bands like
Napalm Death, Destruction, Six Feet Under and more. The Blood God and his Murder
Squad strode beside icons like Slayer, Venom, Immortal and Saxon – always
recognizable because of their gore-drenched shows, half-naked Blood Babes and
mutilated body parts.

The controversy of the band has brought DEBAUCHERY
time and again in contact with the big mainstream media, be it a story in
Germany’s BILD about the lesbian porn for “Death Metal Warmachine” or articles
about the loss of the teacher-job of the front man. But in spite of all the
brutality of the fantasy image, in real life the moral standards are of another
kind: Thomas Gurrath is a vegetarian, his statement the video for “Animal
Holocaust”, created in cooperation with PETA.

The music is straight,
groovy, dark, brutal and tells evil stories.

DEBAUCHERY is more than
just death metal – genres are broken, 10 years in music business, 10 years in
metal, 10 years of DEBAUCHERY and now the 10th album of the Blood
God.

Be prepared, the new album will be released in late July 2013 via
Massacre Records!

Line-upThomas, the Man in Blood, one of the Blood Gods of the Dark Breed
Legions - agonizing sound-blades of mass murder, voices of war, scream-killing
and monster growls

The Murder Squad

John Smith, shape-changing
Killerbeast of the Cult of Gore - KillsawBob, the Butcher of Bitches -
girl-raping ChainsawBloodspawn, the Corpsebeast, one of the Kings of Carnage
- Blastmaster-Battery

"Halcyon Days" comes off STRATOVARIUS' new album, "Nemesis", which
was released on February 22 via earMUSIC. The CD was made available as a standard 11-track edition as well as 13-track special
edition.

STRATOVARIUS are hailed as one of the most influential and
successful symphonic metal bands in the world and they have managed to
establish themselves as one of the metal scene's heavy names. The new
album, "Nemesis", unites all the best traits of the band's melodic,
powerful, fresh and technically elaborated metal, all spiced up with an
incredible sense for melody.

The album was produced and mixed by Matias
Kupiainen and mastered by Mika Jussila from Finnvox studios, who has a long
history with the band.

"Nemesis" has a dark and more modern sound
compared to the band's last album, "Elysium". It clearly shows how much the
band has matured and grown as songwriters. At the same time, the band
focused all their attention and work into creating and recording "Nemesis".
Singer Timo Kotipelto spent three weeks recording the vocals in a cottage in
the Finnish countryside.

"Nemesis" track listing:01.
Abandon02. Unbreakable03. Stand My Ground04. Halcyon Days05.
Fantasy06. Out Of The Fog07. Castles In The Air08. Dragons09.
One Must Fall10. If The Story Is Over11. Nemesis

STRATOVARIUS in
June 2012 announced the addition of drummer Rolf Pilve to the group's
ranks.

Blinding Force Recordings is has announced the signing of STRUCTURE OF
INHUMANITY. The band's debut album, "Completion Integration", will be released digitally on March 28. The first single, "Red Ashes", is now
available via iTunes and other popular download sites.

STRUCTURE OF
INHUMANITY was formed in 2005 by keyboardist Jonah Weingarten (PYRAMAZE,
ECHOTERRA) as part of his vision for creating a unique-sounding blend of
melodic death, progressive rhythms, powerful heavy metal, and cinematic
orchestration. Joined by Noah Martin (bass/growls; ARSIS), Clay Barton
(clean vocals; SUSPYRE), guitarist Mike Iuzzolino and drummer Gabriel
Marshall (SUSPYRE), Jonah recorded the CD with James Murphy (TESTAMENT,
DEATH, OBITUARY) and Peter Wichers (SOILWORK, WARREL DANE). In addition to
co-producing the album, Murphy and Wichers also make several guest solo
appearances. Murphy has also mixed and mastered the album.

Rising from the unhallowed wastes of Western Sydney,
Australia, extreme metal outfit THY ART IS MURDER have
carved a trail of bloody mayhem since their inception in
2006.

April 5, 2013 brings a new ritual offering
of darkness from the five piece. Simply titled Hate, the band’s second
full length is the pointed result of THY ART IS MURDER’s growingdissatisfaction with all aspects of modern
life – political, religious, social and environmental – everyone is to
blame.

Today, the band presents the first part
of their track-by-track video series. In this episode, you will get background
information on the following tracks:

SÓLSTAFIR will kick off their first European tour of 2013 tomorrow in Münster,
Germany in the already sold out Sputnikhalle. The band will embark on a journey
through eleven countries with LONG DISTANCE CALLING. Support will come from
AUDREY HORNE on the first eight shows, and from SAHG for the rest of the tour.
The trek will run through March 23rd, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands at the
Baroeg. Please find a full listing of confirmed dates below.

Updated
SÓLSTAFIR news and tour information will be made available at the Season of Mist
website
and the SÓLSTAFIR website
and Facebook page.

WAR FROM A HARLOTS MOUTH will embark on the Bonecrusher Fest tour tomorrow in
Köln, Germany at the Underground. They will perform their chrushing and complex
Math Metal alongside such hard hitting acts as Job For A Cowboy, Beneath The
Massacre, Gorod, As They Burn and Make Them Suffer. This brutal package will
rampage through Europe until March 30th, in Bochum, Germany at the Maxtrix.
Please find a full listing of confirmed dates below.

Updated WAR FROM A
HARLOTS MOUTH news and tour information will be made available at the Season of
Mist website
and the WAR FROM A HARLOTS MOUTH website
and Facebook page.

World Management and Symphony X must unfortunately announce that last week, Jason Rullo was admitted to the hospital for heart failure. Jason spent a week in the hospital, and was released last week; he has started a rehab program, and has been told that his recovery will take a minimum of 3-6 months under doctors’ care. We are all hopeful that J will be back soon!

A note from Jason:

*“I would just like to say that I am happy to be home with my family after what was quite a week. We had a few scary days in there but I made it through what was hopefully the worst of it.*

*Doctors say I have a very good chance for a full recovery so I plan to be back at 100% even if it takes awhile. I will go through cardiac rehab so I can be monitored while returning to form, so that I’ll know when it’s safe for me to return to drumming the way I always have, if not better.*

*Thanks to my friends and family for the support, and to the fans, I love you all!”

Formed in 2008 and fronted by vocalist Larado Romo,
ANTI-MORTEM’s line-up includes older brother-guitarist Nevada Romo, guitarist
Zain Smith, bassist Corey Henderson and drummer Levi Dickerson. With over 300
shows to their name, these Chickasha, Oklahoma natives (aged between 18 &
22) spent their formative nights and weekends woodshedding their sound on the
concert stage they built themselves in the Smith family barn (originally
intended to store an old car collection).

While Zain’s parents were away working on the
weekends, ANTI-MORTEM would turn their barn rehearsal space into a makeshift
venue and hone their chops by inviting friends and family in Chickasha over for
an afternoon of gravel-throated vocals, crunch-laden riffs, thick grooves, and
some good ol’-fashioned Southern hospitality.

Nuclear Blast
Entertainment President Monte Conner states: “ANTI-MORTEM connect with a fist-to-the-face, combining the
power of American heavy metal and the down-home flavor of the classic Southern
rock and blues they were raised on. I’ve been watching them develop for the past
two years and they are now ready to show the world how a good ass-kicking is
delivered.”

"We are beyond
pumped to be signing with Nuclear Blast Entertainment and to have Monte Conner
in our corner,” shares ANTI-MORTEM vocalist
Larado Romo. “We are looking forward to a very
long worldwide career with Nuclear Blast and are excited to finally have the
opportunity to spread our music and message."

ANTI-MORTEM will record their debut album in March
with Hollywood-based producer Bob Marlette (BLACK STONE CHERRY, LYNYRD SKYNYRD,
SHINEDOWN, ROB ZOMBIE). The band’s first full-length will be released later this
year.

01. Mouths Of Madness02. Marching Dogs Of
War03. Silent One04. Nomad05. Mountains Of Steel06. Leaving It
All Behind07. Loving Hand Of God08. Wizard Of War09. See You On The
Other Side

01. Mouths Of
Madness

One of the first tracks written for this album. I
was struck immediately by the soaring, yet totally sinister sounding vocals
against that pulsing beat. A great opening number. -Mark Thomas Baker,
guitar

02. Marching Dogs Of
War

We really struggled with this one to get "the
feel" right. It's a simple enough song on the surface but the subtlety of the
shuffle can really be illusive sometimes. Do we swing on the light or dark side?
Is it a slow enough tempo but not dragging? I'm very happy it didn't end up on
the cutting room floor since I think it is critical to the overall story the
album tells.- Keith Nickel, bass

03. Silent
One

The quintessential doom song of the album. The
evil sludgy intro followed by the most crushing verse that I have ever played.
My favorite drum song on the album. -Carter Kennedy, drums

04. Nomad

I've had the riffs for this
song scattered about in my brain since we started the band. We'd jammed on
different versions of the song and Mark always really liked it. One day it
finally just fell together. I really like the feeling of it. It really feels
like a journey through different emotions I've gone through about spending so
much time away from home but then feeling restless when I'm at home...no
peace. -Theo Mindell, vocals05. Mountains Of
Steel

A song that creeps into your soul. Very
psychedelic imagery and a great heavy groove that makes it a blast to play. I'm
always transformed by this song whether it's jamming it with the band or just
listening in my car. - Keith Nickel, bass06. Leaving It All
Behind

Man, this song was a pretty heavy one for me. I
had the music for this one for a while and felt like it sounded really kind of
sad but sentimental and loving at the same time. Honestly as funny as it sounds,
I was driving and the ELTON JOHN song ‘This Is Your Song’ came on the radio. My
mother has been really ill, she pretty much raised me on her own. I grew up
pretty poor, just she and I really struggling to make ends meet when I was
little. So this song just ended up being my way of saying thank you to her, not
very evil. But I've never wanted to be in a band where I couldn't say the things
I wanted to, or feel limited by some poser identity of being a dark band all the
time. -Theo Mindell, vocals

07. Loving Hand Of
God

Started off as an ORCHID take on traditional blues
like LIGHTNING HOPKINS. When I heard the finished track, the vocals gave me
goosebumps and the feeling was much more of a Victorian era England than a
Mississippi Delta. -Mark Thomas Baker, guitar

08. Wizard Of
War

This song just kind of happened in one night at
practice. Mark had had this riff floating around for years that He and I would
joke around about saying it sounded like ENTOMBED or early CELTIC FROST. I
always really liked it and we'd jam on it periodically. One night we worked on
it and I went home and wrote a chorus and a bridge and the next practice it was
just done. It was just one of those songs that kind of wrote itself. It’s just a
straight ahead rocker, no frills. -Theo Mindell, vocals09. See You On The Other
Side

I always loved the riff, and especially the middle
section, which grew to a point beyond what I thought was its
potential.-Carter Kennedy, drums

Sweden’s classic rock heavyweights SPIRITUAL BEGGARS are now debuting a first
song off their upcoming 8th studio album release, “Earth Blues”. Visit the
UK’s Classic Rock Mag. website to check out the stunning “Turn The Tide”
here:

In order to promote this upcoming release as well as the band’s
anniversary, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS have confirmed a European tour for April with
support by German rockers ZODIAC, some European summer festivals and also a
recently confirmed show in Mexico. Here are the exact dates announced so
far:

US quintet KYLESA have
announced the title and release date of their forthcoming album. One of the most
anticipated hard rock releases of 2013 and the follow-up to their
critically-acclaimed album ‘Spiral Shadow’, 'Ultraviolet' will hit the stores
on May 24th (May 28th in North America).

"Unspoken", a new song
from the eleven-track album, is available now for people who subscribe to the
Season of Mist newsletter. Of course, if you already subscribed to the
newsletter, you can still get the MP3. All you have to do is enter your email
address in the widget you will find on the respective websites of our partners
Terrorizer
(UK), Metal.de
(Germany), and Inferno
(Finland).

“Whereas ‘Spiral Shadow’ was a warm album
suggesting concepts of hope, ‘Ultraviolet’ is a bit colder and darker”, explains
songwriter/guitar player Laura Pleasants. “All of our studio albums have their
own unique identity and we've always been a band who strives for something
different than what current fads suggest. With ‘Ultraviolet’, we took a step
inward and wrote music that we felt we had to write; this album centers around
the multiple themes of loss and you can feel it in the music. Everyone goes
through it during their lifetime and this record reflects that
experience”.

KYLESA recorded
'Ultraviolet' at The Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina with the band's guitar
player/songwriter and sought-after producer, Phillip Cope (BARONESS, BLACK TUSK)
once again overseeing production.

KYLESA released a
rarities collection in November titled ‘From The Vaults, Vol. 1’, which featured
unreleased, new and alternate versions of songs spanning the band's catalog as
well as one new song titled "End Truth." Cope and Pleasants spent over a year
going through their archives preparing the release.

The band's most recent
studio album, ‘Spiral Shadow’,
had the highest metal/hard rock entry on the Village Voice's 2010 Pazz & Jop
album poll, led Pitchfork to say "KYLESA would be a household name" following
the release and landed the band on the cover of Terrorizer as well as album of
the month accolades from Metal Hammer, Rock Sound and Visions Magazines. In
2011, KYLESA became the first metal band to perform on Last Call with Carson
Daly.

Italian
power metallers SECRET
SPHERE have been confirmed for this year’s edition of
the Wacken
Open Air Festival, set to take place August 1-3, 2013 in the
small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein,
northern Germany.

On March 29th
AVANTASIA will release their new album "The Mystery Of Time". Now the band
presents the first track called „INVOKE THE MACHINE“. Besides mastermind TOBIAS
SAMMET, the track features PRETTY MAIDS vocalist RONNIE ATKINS as a guest
singer.

Tobias Sammet
comments: "I have been a huge PRETTY
MAIDS fan since I was a teenager. I already asked Ronnie to be on the Metal
Opera in 1999, but he was busy back then. Last year I saw PRETTY MAIDS live, and
they were a steam train on stage, unbelievable. After the show we met and Ronnie
was a great guy. Finally after 13 years,
I am really proud to have him on the new Avantasia album. And his kick-ass
performance leaves no doubt: It was a great decision to ask
him!"

17, 18, 19, 19.
No, that’s not today’s lottery numbers, but the age of the band members of
Finland’s most promising contemporary
newcomer combo - LOST SOCIETY! Crafted under the aegis of famous producer Nino
Laurenne (AMORPHIS, ENSIFERUM, LORDI) in the prestigious Sonic Pump Studios
(FINNTROLL, SONATA ARCTICA, OMNIUM GATHERUM), the band’s debut entitled “Fast
Loud Death“will be released via
Nuclear Blast on March 15, 2013. Already in the first quarter, this record can
doubtlessly be ranked among this year’s best releases of its
genre!

Today, the band presents the third part of their hilarious
track-by-track video series. In this episode, Samy, Arttu, Mirko and Ossi
provide you with background information on the following tracks:

German black metal masters IMPERIUM DEKADENZ unveiled
a new song from their forthcoming album 'Meadows of Nostalgia'. The new
track, entitled "Der Unweg", is streaming now with Decibel Magazine.

IMPERIUM DEKADENZ rises from Germany's Black
Forest and delivers 'Meadows of Nostalgia', a black metal album in the
classic sense; a desolate, morose journey from start-to-finish that
transports the listener out into another place and time. Haunting,
melodic guitars and passages of melancholy and despair build each song
to new heights as IMPERIUM DEKADENZ craft black metal fused with nods to
the old school into a unique, dismal wall of distortion.

Durch das Tor...

Brigobannis

Aue der Nostalgie

Ave Danuvi

Memoria

Aura Silvae

Der Unweg

Striga

Tränen des Bacchus

'Meadows of Nostalgia' will be available on March
15th (March 19th in North America). The album will be available in CD
format, and a deluxe double LP that is limited to 250 copies worldwide.
Pre-order on Season of Mist’s e-shop!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

WHITECHAPEL's debut full-length album, The Somatic
Defilement, is the album that firmly planted the band on an upward
trajectory that has carried the band to the upper echelons of modern death
metal. The band has taken The Somatic Defilement and placed it in the
capable hands of Audiohammer Studios producer Mark Lewis for a complete re-mix
and re-master. The results are staggering and give The Somatic
Defilement a modern luster up to the standards of the band's most recent
recordings. Fans can listen and pre-order now at metalblade.com/whitechapel.

The Somatic
Defilement, originally released in 2007, is a concept album about Jack
the Ripper's infamous murders of prostitutes in East London's WHITECHAPEL
district. This 2013 re-release sees the band tasking producer Mark Lewis to
painstakingly bring the six year old recording to today's standard.

The
band's latest effort, the self-titled album that dropped on June 19, 2012 in
North America, debuted at #47 on the Top 200 Chart, #10 on the Top Independent
Albums Chart, #3 on the Hard Music Albums Chart (Current), #2 on the Hard Music
Albums Chart (Core Stores) and #64 on the Top Digital Album
Chart.

Whitechapel was one of the most well received albums
of 2012, with critical acclaim from some of the most respected music outlets
including The New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer. The album
also claimed bragging rights as the iTunes UK Metal Album of the Year for
2012!

"They build unforgiving walls of riff, and unpleasant
ones too. Pleasure's not the point, though. There is a militaristic certainty to
Whitechapel's work, which activates the true thrills of masochism."New York Times

"The band's best album yet by a wide
margin."4/5, Alternative Press Magazine

"Bolder and
smarter than previous efforts and with flashes of subtle invention peppering
their trademark onslaught of fat, hellish grooves and adrenalized blasting,
Whitechapel positions its creators as worthy heirs to Chaos AD-era
Sepultura's cross pollinating throne, albeit with a massive, jarring does of
21st century death metal adding additional sonic bulk and braggadocio."Metal Hammer – 8/10

"When metal historians look back at the era
of deathcore, one band that will undoubtedly stand out from the rest is
Whitechapel. On top of being one of the biggest acts in the scene, and
also having probably helped sculpt the genre, the Tennessee six-piece are one of
the few acts really giving the oft-dismissed sub-genre a stamp of credibility –
and their new, self-titled release promises to further solidify that."About.com

WHITECHAPEL's video for their song I,
Dementia can be viewed HERE. The video was shot by David Brodsky of MyGoodEye as part
of the Scion AV Project.